Time to Talk about Pay

We call for decent pay rise for all staff, including a return to UK pay and the living wage

UNISON meets NHS Pay Review Body to make the case for fair pay

UNISON has met with the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) to present evidence on behalf of UNISON members. We presented a clear case that NHS staff both need and deserve a fair cost-of-living pay award. In our annual pay survey, carried out over summer, over 21,000 UNISON members responded. You told us that:

Nearly two-thirds of you feel worse off than you did 12 months ago.

59% of you rely on unsocial hours payments to sustain your standard of living and 34% rely on overtime payments.

Just under one-fifth of you took on work in addition to your main job, with nearly two-thirds of those doing so because your basic salary is not enough to meet living costs

Nearly half of you had asked for financial support from family or friends and 11% of you had used a payday loan company

70% of you say there are not enough staff in their unit to do the work required and more than half of you work unpaid overtime

The evidence session with the NHS PRB was our chance to tell your stories and make the case that UNISON members deserve a decent pay rise, to reflect both changes to costs of living and to recognise the extraordinary dedication of NHS staff in delivering services to the public.

Time to bust the 1% pay cap

UNISON has set out specific asks for returning to fair NHS pay. These goals include:

A return to UK-wide pay scales, levelling up to Scotland scales as a minimum

A restructure of Bands 1-3, delivering the real Living Wage and maintaining pay differentials between bands

A fair pay award for all staff to reflect cost of living increases

We have been clear that these steps are necessary to return to a fair, UK-wide NHS pay structure and that the Government must abandon the unnecessary 1% public sector pay cap.

Next steps

The PRB usually reports to the Government around February time, with the Government issuing a response in March. We will keep you updated throughout the process.

Want to talk more about pay?

Talk to your local UNISON branch and find out more about how you can get involved in the union.